Net Neutrality Activists Set #OneMoreVote Action Day

Net neutrality activists doing activist business as BattleForTheNet.com are planning another internet action day, this time to try and get at least one and preferably more senators to sign on to a legislative maneuver to nullify the FCC's network neutrality rule rollback.

Currently 50 senators say they will support a Congressional Review Act resolution to restore the rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization, including all the Democrats, independent Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Republican Susan Collins (Me.). Only one more is needed to approve it, though getting the CRA through the House and past the President's pen is a long shot at best.

On Feb. 27, participants including Etsy and Vimeo, will push Operation: #OneMoreVote, a campaign of e-mails, calls and tweets to legislators. Also supporting the effort are Consumer Reports, Common Cause and the ACLU, according to Fight for the Future Campaign Director Evan Greer.

“The FCC’s decision to let ISPs throttle websites and shake us down with new scams and extra fees was the most unpopular move in the agency’s history," said Greer. "The CRA gives our elected officials a clear way to reverse that decision, making it a simple up or down vote on the future of the open Internet. On February 27, we’ll make sure they know their constituents expect them to do their jobs and vote on the right side of history.”

Congress can't take up the CRA until the FCC's Dec. 14 Restoring Internet Freedom order is published in the Federal Register, which had not happened at press time. A copy has been sent to the Hill, but the trigger is said to be that publication. Congress has 60 legislative days after a rule's publication to vote to nullify it, an unusual move that got more usual in this Republican Congress and its votes to roll back various Obama-era regs, including the FCC's broadband privacy framework.